Add On: Takedowns

A common reason for takedowns is copyright infringement. Copyright infringement can happen if the seller uses images or text in their listing without permission or if they use someone else’s brand name without permission. To avoid this, the seller must ensure that they only use images and text that they have the right to use and be careful about using other brands’ names in their listings.

Listings can also be taken down for misleading customers. This includes manipulating product reviews, offering false discounts, or making false claims about the product or its benefits. To avoid this, sellers should always be truthful in their listings and make sure that everything they say about the product is backed up by evidence.

Another reason for seller listing takedown is incompliance of seller with the MAP policy. MAP policy, or Minimum Advertised Price policy, is a set of guidelines that manufacturers put in effect to ensure that their products are advertised at a fixed price. MAP policies are designed to ensure that there is consistency across all retailers in terms of pricing for a given product and to prevent retailers from excessively discounting certain products to gain an unfair advantage over others. If a seller has listed items on more than one platform using different prices, then this could also be considered a violation of MAP policy and could result in their listings being removed from one or more platforms. This is because it gives an unfair advantage over other retailers who are not discounting as much or at all from MSRP, therefore, showing favoritism towards those sellers who have disregarded MAP policy and discounted too much from MSRP.

Finally, listings can also be taken down due to third-party resellers selling products without permission from the manufacturer or distributor and often selling counterfeit or lower-quality versions of the product. This kind of infringement can deprive manufacturers and legitimate distributors of their rightful profits and put consumers at risk if they purchase a defective product or one that does not meet expected standards. To prevent similar incidents in the future, buyers should always purchase items from authorized resellers who have been approved by the manufacturer or distributor and who abide by all relevant laws related to reselling.

Every time a seller’s listing is taken down, data is generated. This data can be used for investigative purposes.

The data generated by seller listing takedowns can be divided into two categories: quantitative data and qualitative data. Quantitative data is data that can be measured, such as the number of listings taken down, the percentage of listings taken down, and the average time it takes to take down a listing. Qualitative data is data that cannot be measured, such as the reasons for taking down a listing, the type of listing, and the effect of taking down a listing.

Here’s a closer look at some of the quantitative data that is generated by seller listing takedowns:

Here’s a quick look at some of the qualitative data that is generated by seller listing takedowns:

Investigators often face a situation where it is difficult for them to track requests for takedowns manually. They also face difficulty in being able to manually analyze the different types of the huge amount of data generated by takedowns. Consolidation of reports related to takedowns is another area where investigators struggle. Remediation of these three struggles that investigators frequently encounter is necessary for making investigations involving takedowns effective.

The takedowns template helps investigators around the world ensure they are on track with their investigations. It can be used by investigators to track takedowns on various online platforms, import data from service providers, make sure all takedowns are actioned within their SLA (Service Level Agreement), and find related takedowns, such as takedowns for the same seller account.